I must admit I am slightly disturbed by this and no, Gus isn’t getting one from me any time soon.

Posted in Uncategorized ]]> http://livinginthequestions.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/the-remnants-of-dinner/feed/ 0 Kate http://livinginthequestions.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/the-alban-institute-accountability-and-leadership/ http://livinginthequestions.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/the-alban-institute-accountability-and-leadership/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:35:16 +0000 Pastor Kate http://livinginthequestions.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/the-alban-institute-accountability-and-leadership/ ]]>

Posted in Uncategorized ]]> http://livinginthequestions.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/its-halloween/feed/ 0 Kate http://livinginthequestions.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/op-ed-guest-columnist-rebranding-america/ http://livinginthequestions.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/op-ed-guest-columnist-rebranding-america/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:56:18 +0000 Pastor Kate http://livinginthequestions.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/op-ed-guest-columnist-rebranding-america/ ]]>

via nytimes.com

Definitely worth the read and it’s not just because I like U2 or Bono…

I’ve begun to notice that my dog’s behavior is directly proportional to the time I spend with him.

In late August, I felt like Gus had really begun to understand what it is to be a well-behaved dog.  I was able to leave the bathroom door open and he wouldn’t go digging through the trash or unroll the toilet paper in the pursuit of paper products.  I could leave him out when I quickly ran to the store, confident I would return to find everything just as I left it.  Most importantly, he was calm and didn’t really go off in search of a book to rip the cover off of or something else he could sink his teeth into.

But by mid-September and early -October, Gus seemed to have relapsed back into a puppy.  Now, he’s only about 16 months old and it really probably takes until a dog is two years old to settle into adult behaviors, but it seems like Gus decided he didn’t want to be an adult and was going to find everything he could to rebel against it.  He’s back to finding hidden treasures in the bathroom trash and chewing on things he shouldn’t.  He goes off to find whatever he can that will not only be interesting to his keen sense of smell but will provide some sense of entertainment.  The only thing he hasn’t regressed back to is tearing the covers off of books (thank goodness).

I just couldn’t figure it out, that is until a friend asked me if October had been a busier month for me.  That’s when it began to dawn on me – Gus misses me and is trying to get my attention.  September and October have been crazy busy months and poor Gus probably thinks I’ve abandoned him.  He doesn’t know what my schedule’s been like – that I have to be at several installations, funerals, and bible studies.  He doesn’t know that I’ve had more meetings than normal and most are at least a 45 minute drive from home.  He doesn’t know life in the parish has picked up a bit and will eventually slow down, but for now I’ve a bit too much on my plate.

All he knows is that I’m not here.  With him.  And he’s alone.

So now I’m trying to find ways of carving out time with him – time to let him know I still love him, that he’s a good dog.

We’ll see if more time spent improves Gus’ behavior.

Gus decided he much preferred it this way and did some rearranging while I was in the shower this morning…

Okay, so change became a buzz word over the past two and a half years.  But before it was a buzz word and still for those happy with the way things are in life, change was a dirty word.  For some, it was almost the equivalent of a four-letter word (even though it has six).

But change, as the cliche often notes, is the only constant in our lives.

And lately I’ve begun to think a bit about the rate of change (or flux for those of us who are geeks).  Much of this comes out of a conversation I had with my brother regarding cell phones.  Mostly how different the phones we have now are from those we had two years ago and how different those phones were from those we had nine years ago (or I had nine years ago).  But also how quickly it’s changing.  Cell phones, in a race for the edge in the market, are bringing out new phone after new phone.  It seems like every month or so companies are releasing newer, slicker, faster, smaller phones.  And that rate is a drastic difference from the rate at which they were released even three years ago.  Not to mention when my mom first got a cell phone fifteen or sixteen years ago (back when they were bricks… almost literally.  But I digress).

So I’ve begun to think about this with relationship to the church (because we always get here right?).  If my generation and especially those who come after me are used to the rate of change in life being at a dizzying speed, if we’re used to a new cell phone every month or having the size of notebooks become so small we change the name to netbooks, then what happens when they/we enter the church and find change happens at a snail’s pace?

And really, I suppose my question is what happens in congregations where the average age is below 35?  Are these congregations more likely to change at a quicker pace?  Or will that become true in the future?  Will change be quicker as our generation ages?  Or will the change always be slow the change?  Or will those used to quick change become so frutstrated with the pace and leave before it ever speeds up?

I’m curious to see what others think…

Photo courtesy of zenera (rights).